


The Velocity of Water

by RayShippouUchiha



Series: The Components of Construction [12]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Always Female Tony Stark, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Avengers, BAMF James "Rhodey" Rhodes, BAMF Tony Stark, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magical Realism, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Pirates, Revenge, Yo Ho Ho Bitches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 14:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14451108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayShippouUchiha/pseuds/RayShippouUchiha
Summary: If she could, Toni would spend the vast majority of her time in the forge.  Would spend her days working the metal to create everything from horseshoes and nails to finely worked daggers that match the razor sharp blade of the one she wears on her waist, a gift from Yinsen that she cherishes.  She would exist bathed in the heat of the fire, sprinkled with soot and matching her breathing to the rhythm of the bellows.But, like with so many of her other dreams, so much of what shewants, Toni knows that isn’t possible.She’ll never be allowed to work the forge to her heart’s content, to birth creations from metal and fire until the pounding in her head can finally ease.She’ll never be allowed to take to the seas, to explore the waters beyond the inlet where Jarvis, with awe inspiring patience, had given into her childish pleading and taught her to sail so many years ago.Instead this is her life.Pain and cruelty are her norm with her few bits of peace and happiness snatched where and when she can find them.





	The Velocity of Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh me mateys! It is I, ya girl, here again with yet another AU. May the gods help us all...

“ _What will we do with a drunken sailor?_ ” Toni sings lightly as she works.  “ _What will we do with a drunken sailor?  Early in the morning!_ ”

“Young miss,” Jarvis’ voice calling out across the stillness of the grounds startles Toni out of the haze she’s fallen into.  “Young miss, answer me.”

“Here!”  Toni calls to him, a fond smile blooming across her face as she blinks sweat from her eyes.  But, even then, Toni’s hands don’t falter as she hears Jarvis moving closer to where she’s at.  Instead she keeps the rhythm of her hammer steady and even as she goes back to lightly humming the shanty she’d heard in town to help her keep the pace.

If she stops now the piece will be ruined and Toni will have to start over from scratch.

While that normally wouldn’t bother her she can’t be certain when she’ll be able to sneak away to the forge again.  She can’t take the chance of not being able to finish this particular project on time. Rhodey’s birthday will be upon her soon and she wants to have his present, a finely honed cutlass she plans to mount on a specially made hilt, finished well before then just in case.

The idea of having to abandon this endeavour half finished and freshly ruined irritates her beyond measure.  Rhodey deserves nothing but the best from her and she intends to give it to him. She’d rather take another of Howard’s beatings or listen to another of Maria’s vicious lectures about _refinement_ or, more accurately, Toni’s lack thereof than have nothing worthy to give him.

Though she knows she will, undoubtedly, get to experience both of those soon enough, one way or another.  She always does, no matter the circumstances or the occasion.

Toni had stopped trying to please her _parents_ years ago, long before they’d sent her away at twelve.  Now all she’s been trying to do for the past few years is survive the both of them.  Now she focuses her attentions on those few who actually care for her. Jarvis, his wife Ana, and Rhodey himself chief among them.

So, cut off as Toni is from most everything else, the forge is a hard won refuge that she pays a bloody price for.  Still it is one of the few places to be found where she can take some measure of shelter from the pressures and cruelties of her life.

The pressures that grow _constantly_ , compounding upon themselves daily until her shoulders _ache_ from the urge to bow beneath their massive weight.  The cruelties that Howard, _Sir_ , seems as eager as ever to reward her every seemingly wrong move or disrespectful word with.  Compared to that, Maria, _Ma’am_ , and her cold disdain is almost a blessing.

Toni refuses to give in though.  Refuses to give them, or any of the sycophants that cling to their coattails, the satisfaction of seeing her _weak_ , head bowed and shoulders slumped like they’ve always told her was her _place_.

Instead Toni holds onto the calm and cool facade she had built from a young age with grim determination, clings to it with jagged nails and teeth gone bloody at the gums.

Forge work is a blessing in that sense, an unending source of relaxation and peace for all of the hard work and aching muscles it can leave her with.  Worth even the agony of Howard’s rage and the cutting sting of Maria’s disdain when they catch her at it.

As far as Toni’s concerned the pain is a fair trade off for the way the forge always captures her mind completely when she can escape to it.  The heat of the fire and the rhythmic pounding of her hammer whisks her thoughts away as her mind _whirls_ around new ideas and new designs that her fingers itch to bring to life.

In the forge Toni has found a peace that she’s only found in few other places in her life, namely at Rhodey’s side and on the water.

It’s also the perfect hiding place from the insipid bachelors and conniving socialites who have flocked en masse to the Stark estate.  Toni _despises_ the way they congregate in the mansion during what passes for the season on Hattan and the surrounding islands of the York archipelago.  Some even travel from as far as Queens Cove or even the Staten Isles to spend the season on the estate.

If given the choice Toni would do away with them all.  She’d had enough of the nattering, the backstabbing, and the cutting cruelty of high society during her years banished to the tender mercies of _Madam Integra Teague’s Finishing School_.

MIT was the best of the best of course, Howard would have nothing less for a child of the Stark name, even one he cared for as little as Toni herself.  But that hadn’t made her time in its hallowed halls enjoyable by far.

No Toni had spent six _hellish_ years trapped in that school, confined to the grounds with only letters from Rhodey and from Ana and Edwin Jarvis to keep her company.  The only other comfort had been that she was far from Howard and the long familiar agony of his rage, his rampant _jealousy_.

Toni’s sure she would have gone mad there if it wasn’t for the library, a massive building filled to the brim with books on every subject one could name.  Toni had spent days eschewing her deportment classes to read about languages she wasn’t supposed to learn, about people and lands she wasn’t supposed to think about.  Had spent hours upon hours hidden behind shelves and snarling at anyone who came close as she delved into everything from shipwrighting to clockwork to topography.

Then, a year and a half into her stay and filled with spitting rage over Sunset Bain cutting a good six inches off of her braid, Toni had met Yinsen and her entire life had changed.

Yinsen had been foreign and older, almost grandfatherly in a way the dour faced portraits of Gregory Stark had never managed to seem.  He’d lived in the small cottage just outside MIT’s eastern grounds, passed a section of crumbling brick wall that the forest had slowly begun to impede upon.

Toni had stumbled onto him working in his small forge by accident, determined to escape MIT even for a little bit before she was locked in the closet again for _‘violence unbecoming’_.  He’d taken one look at her hands clenched around her cut braid, at the white faced but silent rage of her expression, and beckoned her underneath the overhang he’d been working beneath.  He’d steered her towards the bellows, showed her what to do, and set her to work without a word.

Hours later, hands, face, and dress absolutely _filthy_ , Toni had been exhausted but peaceful.  Peaceful like she’d been when Jarvis had taught her to sail, or when he’d first snuck her books on math and mechanics and spare cogs and strips of metal to tinker with.  Peaceful like she’d always been when the young guard James Rhodes, Rhodey to her, would spend time with her, four years older but sweet and kind and willing to treat her as an _equal_.  Her one true friend in all the world.

Peaceful like she hadn’t been since she’d left Hatten.

Toni had carried a canning from Madame Integra herself that night but she hadn’t even cared.

She’d slipped off of the grounds and straight to Yinsen’s not even two days later.  When he’d welcomed her with a small smile and a wave towards the bellows Toni hadn’t hesitated to come back again a day or so after that.

Three months into her new routine she had only been getting caned every other time she disappeared and Yinsen had slowly begun to show her what all of the tools in the forge were for.

Toni had taken to it all with enthusiasm and joy and hadn’t looked back for even a second.

If she could, Toni would spend the vast majority of her time in the forge.  Would spend her days working the metal to create everything from horseshoes and nails to finely worked daggers that match the razor sharp blade of the one she wears on her waist, a gift from Yinsen that she cherishes.  She would exist bathed in the heat of the fire, sprinkled with soot and matching her breathing to the rhythm of the bellows.

But, like with so many of her other dreams, so much of what she _wants_ , Toni knows that isn’t possible.

She’ll never be allowed to work the forge to her heart’s content, to birth creations from metal and fire until the pounding in her head can finally ease.

She’ll never be allowed to take to the seas, to explore the waters beyond the inlet where Jarvis, with awe inspiring patience, had given into her childish pleading and taught her to sail so many years ago.

Instead this is her life.

Pain and cruelty are her norm with her few bits of peace and happiness snatched where and when she can find them.

“Oh young miss,” Jarvis sounds exasperated as he turns the corner and steps into the forge, “look at you, filthy again.”

“Sword smithing is dirty work Jarvis,” Toni takes a second to smile at him over her shoulder before she turns and plunges the cutlass into the water trough, steam hissing out into the air around her.  “You should know that by now.”

“Indeed,” Jarvis sighs as he steps further into the forge area, careful to give her room as she pulls the blade from the water.  “Is this to be Master James’ birthday present then?”

“Of course,” Toni says as she goes about setting the blade down, “he needs a new sword and the smith in town is a drunken bastard who’s materials are shit.  My way is better.”

“Language, young miss,” Jarvis chides half-heartedly and Toni doesn’t even try to bite back the smile that blossoms across her face again.

Jarvis has always been nothing but kind and sweet and _good_ to her.  For all that he chides about her dirty dresses or her stolen breeches and shirts or her foul language or a million other petty and insignificant things Toni would have him no other way.

He and Ana have always been far more her parents than Howard and Maria.  The father and mother of her heart and soul if not her body or her tongue.

She loves the both of them dearly.

“I decided,” Toni tells Jarvis lightly as she turns towards him, pulling her gloves off as she moves, “that if I wanted him to have the best sword on the island I needed to make him the best sword on the island myself.”

“I see,” Jarvis steps up beside her to look down at the rough outline of the sword she’s making.  “It looks to be a fine blade in the making, young miss. Master James will surely adore it.”

“I told him I was buying him a cravat, something delicate and wispy like himself, so I’m sure he will,” Toni grins at Jarvis, bright and happy.

Jarvis laughs, low and fond beside her for a short moment before he sighs, shakes his head, and goes serious again.

“Miss Virginia is looking for you again, young miss,” Jarvis tells her.

Toni feels a familiar sort of dread settle low in her stomach.  If Virginia “Pepper” Hogan, her lady’s maid and only female friend, is looking for her this early in the morning then that only means one thing.

Howard has called for her.

“What is it?”  Toni sneers, teeth bared in a snarl, as she tosses her gloves onto the workbench and moves towards the barrel of water she keeps for washing up.  “Does he have another ship design he needs me to explain to him before he _steals_ it as he does all the rest?”

She thrusts her hands into the barrel and scrubs at her knuckles a bit before she finally sighs and stops.  Getting angry, showing her rage to Jarvis, will change nothing. They both know that. “When does he want to see me?”

“You’ve little more than an hour,” Jarvis answers grimly.  “Then he wants you in his study.”

“Fine,” Toni rasps as she straightens up, braces her hands on the edge of the barrel, and takes a moment to just _breathe_.  Her eyes are dry no matter the way her mind _screams_ at her about what she knows is to come.  She stopped crying years ago after all.

Tears might be a woman’s weapon as so many like to say, but they have never won a battle for Toni.  Have never been an effective part of her arsenal.

“If I could spare you this cruelty I would,” Jarvis whispers from a step or so behind her as his hand comes up to curve around the thin but strong line of her shoulder, careful to not touch skin, only the sweat damp cotton of her stolen shirt. “I would never have you suffer like this again.  I swear it.”

They both know about the secrets her back holds, the reminders she carries there and how sensitive to them she is.  They are one of the many reasons her dresses are always high collared despite the heat of the islands and the current fashion for stooped necklines and _heaving bosoms_.

Toni makes up for it by scandalizing everyone and their spinster aunts by refusing all but darker colored frocks and dresses with slender cut skirts and scrunched hem lines that leave her stocking covered calves bare and give her an ease of movement she wouldn’t trade for the world.

She’s considered unfashionable to the point of inappropriate and, above all else, _cold_ by most.  She’s heard more than one whisper that her marriage prospects would all disappear _instantly_ if she wasn’t beautiful and backed by the Stark fortune.  Her rumored dowry alone is enough to reel in more than one prospective match.  The fact that she’s an only child and her husband and sons will surely inherit the Stark businesses reel in the rest.

Toni resolutely doesn’t care.

Marriage, especially the type expected of her, doesn’t interest her at all.

If Toni were given the choice the only way she’d ever marry would be for _love_ , as Pepper did, no matter the cost or how unlikely the possibility.

“I know you would,” Toni tells Jarvis softly as she brings a hand up to lay over top of his.  “I know.”

It’s true too.  Toni trusts only five people in all of the world and she knows that all of them, to a one, would spare her Howard’s cruelty and Maria’s disdain if they could.

But gold is power and Howard has plenty of the first which gives him more of the second than he deserves.  There’s no where on Hatten Toni can go where he can’t find her. There’s no one who could hide her that he couldn’t destroy on a whim.

Toni is trapped here no matter how much her heart yearns for freedom, for the salt spray of the sea, for the sun on her face and the wind in her hair.  For laughter and joy and the a love she knows will likely never be hers to find.

“Alright,” Toni sighs as she lightly thumps her hands on the side of the barrel, “I suppose I should go get ready.”

“I’ll see if I cannot delay him a bit, young miss,” Jarvis offers quietly.  “And attempt to find some … urgent business that will require his attention.”

“Thank you, Jarvis,” Toni smiles at him as she turns towards the door, Jarvis a few steps in front of her.  They both know that the less time she keeps Howard waiting the better. Early for Toni will always be late in Howard’s opinion.  It’s the way of things between the two of them. Always has been. “I’ll get the boys and head inside.”

“ _Ah_ ,” Jarvis sounds pained and his steps noticeably speed up, “of course.  I shall see you inside, young miss.”

Hands braced on her hips Toni takes a moment to watch him go, shaking her head in fond amusement.

Finally though she knows she can’t delay any longer so she strips off her apron and puts it on the peg by the door.

“DUM-E,” Toni calls as she steps out into the already warm morning air, “U.  Come here boys.”

There’s a loud scraping sound, behind her the forge’s bellows stop moving, and then Toni hears the familiar tinkle of two bells and loud twin screeching.  She opens her arms automatically just in time for two large balls of fur to throw themselves directly into her chest, purring loud enough that she’s half sure they’ll vibrate directly out of her arms again.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

“There’s my good boys,” Toni coos at them as she shifts them in her arms and heads towards the manor.  “Calm down now, you little idiots or you’ll fall.”

DUM-E, so named because he’s a Damn Useless Mouse Exterminator, butts his great orange head against her chin, determined to get the attention that is his due.  U, named for his uniquely pure white fur, is little better, paws extended to knead relentlessly at her shoulder.

Toni had found them as kittens, half starved and almost feral, a little more than a year ago.  After more than her fair share of scratches and bites she’d tamed them well enough. Once they were healthy she had even, after much trial and error, trained them to run the wheel she’d rigged to keep the forge’s bellows pumping.  Now she has two uncomfortably large, loyal, protective, and admittedly mischievous cats to call her own.

They’re precious to her even if they are little devils to the rest of the household and had been forced to learn to avoid Howard at all costs fairly early on.

There’d been a pup once, a wiry little mongrel of a thing with soulful eyes and floppy ears, that had hung around the manor when Toni was small.  She’d snuck it up to her room during a storm one night, half in love with it and determined to keep it safe and warm.

It had lasted three days before Howard had found it and gone into a towering rage.

As playful and trusting as it had been, as young and clumsy as Toni herself had been, the pup hadn’t stood a chance no matter how she’d screamed and beat at Howard.

She was four at the time and had nightmares for months afterwards.  Jarvis had soothed her through them with warm milk and the legend of Icarus told over and over again until she finally fell asleep.

Toni hasn’t so much as _looked_ at a dog the same way in all the years since then and she is fiercely protective of DUM-E and U both.

The only animals Howard can abide by are his horses and the vicious flock of peacocks he’d been gifted with.  He doesn’t even keep hunting hounds, no matter how fashionable they are.

Toni shakes the thoughts off as she strides across the yard towards the kitchen door where she can already see Harold “Happy” Hogan, Pepper’s husband and Toni’s personal guard, waiting for her.

“Happy,” Toni cuts a purposefully sunny smile up at him as he stares down at her, thick arms crossed over his barrel chest and mouth pursed in displeasure.

“Miss Toni,” Happy scowls but she can see the glint of amusement in his eyes at the way DUM-E has shifted around to gnaw on a loose curl that’s fallen from her scarf.  “You know you shouldn’t wander off without my missus. Gonna turn that glorious hair of hers grey and then she’ll have both our hides.”

“Pepper hates the forge,” Toni reminds him even as U lunges out of her arms and into Happy’s, purring as he scrambles up to settle proudly on one of Happy’s wide shoulders.  “Plus I was up before dawn, long before you and Pepper arrived for the day.”

“Don’t matter none to her,” Happy says as he follows her into the kitchen and up the servant’s stairs.  Toni knows better than to go through the main halls of the manor where anyone could see her so filthy, especially one of Howard or Maria’s guests.  “You know how protective of you she is.”

“Hm,” Toni hums in agreement.  “Some days I think I ought to have hired her as my guard and you the lady’s maid.  Her temper is as hot as her hair is red.”

“She’s a terrif-” Happy cuts himself off abruptly as they turn the corner.

There, face set in a scowl, arms crossed, gown immaculate and not a hair out of place despite the early hour, stands Pepper herself.

“What was that, husband?”  Pepper asks, tone so sweet Toni can practically taste honey on the back of her tongue.

“Not a thing dear,” Happy answers promptly as he reaches out his free hand to scoop DUM-E out of Toni’s arms.  “I’ll leave you ladies to it while I get these boys cleaned up.”

“Coward,” Toni mutters as Happy beats a hasty retreat down the hall, cats in hand.

“Smart is more like it,” Pepper says, amusement heavy in her voice even as she turns her scowl in Toni’s direction.  “Smarter than you I’d say. Just look at you, filthy as a street urchin.”

“Ah but a street urchin who has Rhodey’s present half done.”  Toni says as she heads towards her room, Pepper on her heels.

“I wish you’d gone with the cravat as you said you would,” Pepper mourns as they step into Toni’s room, shutting and bolting the door behind her as is Toni’s custom.

There’s large copper tub already filled with steaming water waiting for her, orange peels floating on the surface giving the room a nice citrusy scent.

“When have I ever done what’s expected of me, Pep?”  Toni asks as she steps behind her screen to undress, trusting that Pepper will keep her back turned until she’s in the water.

It’s one of the reasons Toni trusts and adores Pepper so much.  In her employ or not Pepper treats her more as a friend, as a _sister_ , than a mistress or a lady.  And she respects Toni’s eccentricities and whims such as insisting on dressing and undressing herself as much as possible or handling her own baths.

“Rarely,” Pepper says dryly before her voice softens, goes fond, “ _thankfully_.”

Behind her screen Toni still for a split second before she finishes unwinding her scarf from her hair.

She knows _exactly_ what Pepper’s talking about and as far as Toni’s concerned she doesn’t need the gratitude.

“You’ve been good to me, Mrs. Hogan,” Toni teases as she steps out from behind her screen and makes her way to her bath.  She sighs when she sinks down into the hot, orange scented water. Pepper always makes sure it’s the right temperature, just a shade off scalding, no matter how the maid, Henrietta, fusses.  “Very very good to me.”

“No better than you’ve been to us,” Pepper says as, tray of bath oils and soaps in hand, she makes her way to Toni’s side.  She settles the tray on the floor and sits down on the stool beside the tub, face turned to the side, more than aware that her only job will be to hand Toni whatever she needs.

And even that had been a job Toni hadn’t seen a need for her to do but Pepper had insisted.

“Pepper, enough,” Toni warns softly as she slides down to wet her hair and scratch the sweat from her scalp.  Hiring Pepper and Happy both had been one of the best decisions she’d made upon returning from MIT. It had been worth every ounce of Maria’s displeasure and Howard’s anger when they’d been allowed to stay on in service to her.

She neither needs nor wants thanks for that.

“It’ll never be enough, Toni,” Pepper denies even as she hands Toni the rough cut bar of soap that’s littered with dried orange bits.  “Maybe one day you’ll understand that. What you did, for me and my Happy …”

“Wasn’t that big of a deal,” Toni says as she scrubs down.

Toni knows they’re both right in a lot of ways.  She had done Pepper and Happy both an unexpectedly good turn by hiring them.  Not even Toni can truthfully deny that no matter how much she might protest either of their thanks.

Pepper, the daughter of a well to do textile merchant had been born into high society same as Toni herself.  Except Pepper had met Happy, a low-born sailor with a loud laugh and a sweet and gentle heart.

It had, apparently, been love at first sight for the both of them, much to Pepper’s father and mother’s dismay.

Needless to say, Mr. and Mrs. Potts had been less than pleased with where Pepper had chosen to settle her affections.

When she’d went against the engagement her parents had tried to negotiate for her and married Happy instead, Pepper had been promptly disowned.  The rest of society had sneered at her and her new husband, matrons and socialites spreading gossip and malicious rumors fast and hard.

Toni had heard about it all soon after it happened and had been intent on doing something.  Pepper had always been kind to her in the past when they’d come across each other and Happy had seemed cheerful and sweet for all his size when she’d seen him about town looking for work to keep him from going back out to sea without Pepper.

Toni, never one to pass up an opportunity to fly in the face of the old cows, had Jarvis call them to the manor and had hired Pepper and Happy on the spot, not a month after they’d been married.  She’d even managed, through Ana and Jarvis’ clever handling of the household finances, to get them a higher wage than the already handsomely paid servants of the rest of the estate. It was enough to allow them to keep a small house on the outskirts of town instead of living together in the servant’s quarters despite the way that too flew in the face of normalcy.

Now, almost three years later, Pepper and Happy are two of her closests friends.

Toni doesn’t regret a single ounce of the price she’d paid to have them at her side.

Especially not since they, like Ana and Jarvis, remind Toni that not all marriages are as cold and heartless as Howard and Maria’s is.

They remind Toni that romantic love is _real_ , that it exists, that there are some people who are able to have it even if it might not ever be a possibility for Toni herself.

And that is a gift all on its own.

A small bit of hope, of light, in a world turned bleak by the life Toni’s been forced to live so far.

~~~

Clean, smelling of oranges and the thick honey scented cream Pepper always makes her slather her hands and face with, Toni stands outside Howard’s study.

Eyes trained on the heavy dark stained doors she forces herself to breathe, to pack her instinctive unease down and away into that place inside of her Howard cannot touch.  That hollow little hide away that she’d whittled out inside of herself when she was little and Howard had first started in with his abuses.

The place she goes inside of her mind where nothing can touch her.  Where there are only memories of the warmth of her boys in her arms and Jarvis’ kindness, his quiet kind of care that she likes to think might be love.  Where the memory of Ana’s teasing and Pepper’s smile, of Happy’s grin and Rhodey’s bright cheerful laugh is all she needs to sustain her.

Then, with one final deep breath, she smooths her hands down the front of her high necked white blouse, straightens her slender cut black skirts, and nods at Jarvis.

Grim faced and eyes creased in worry, Jarvis nods back solemnly and steps forward to knock briskly on the door.

He pulls them open a second or so later and allows Toni to step inside before he steps back out of the study and closes them behind him.  Toni feels the light, barely there touch of his hand against her lower back as he moves. A gesture that has become a habit between the two of them in times such as this.

Toni, as always, draws strength from it, uses it to keep her shoulders straight and her head held high as she sweeps forward further into the room.

“You called?”  Toni doesn’t try to play sweet with Howard, wouldn’t even if she knew it would work.  Instead she keeps her jaw set stubbornly and her eyes trained on him, ignoring the occupied seat to her right and the familiar set of eyes she can practically feel crawling across her body.

Justin Hammer, eldest son of the Lord and Lady Hammer of shipping fame, is as abhorrent to Toni’s entire being as he ever is.  Any physical appeal he _might_ have been able to claim in low lighting is drowned out beneath a superior attitude and a cruel streak that’s common knowledge in most circles.

His presence does little to set Toni at ease, although, truth be told, she’s _never_ at ease around Howard so it’s not much of a loss.

“Late as always, girl,” Howard snears, pipe in one hand and tumbler of some dark liquor or another in the other.

Toni stays silent.  Nothing she says here will do any good.  She knows that from experience. Cutting back at Howard in private is one thing, disrespecting him in front of a guest is another.  The first always means the kind of pain that Toni’s long become familiar with.

The second means agony that will take Toni _days_ to recover from.

“Tiberius Stone is marrying that idiot Bain’s girl,” Howard announces after a moment of silence.  “Sunshine, Sunrise, whatever the little twit’s name is. But with that marriage goes the Stone family connections.  Connections that could have been used to grow Stark Industries by three fold.”

Toni feels a new sort of swooping dread settle low and hard in the pit of her stomach.

“I think it’s about time you were useful around here, girl,” Howard says smuggly, pipe clenched between his teeth, filling the study with the cloying earth scented smoke.  “It’s been decided that you’ll marry Justin by the end of the year. We’ll unite the Hammer shipping routes with the new line of Stark built ships and grow both companies in leaps and bounds.  We’ve agreed that your first son will be sent here when he’s four. He’ll take my name and be raised a proper Stark. Any other children can be done with as your future husband wills.”

Toni feels as if she’s hearing everything from underwater, sounds muted and distant for all that she knows her unsettlement doesn’t show on her face.

 _Married_.

To _Hammer_.

Toni had known, objectively, that the day would come when Howard would finally try to marry her off but she hadn’t expected it to be _now_ and not to _Hammer_ of all people.

Her mistake.

Toni had somehow been naive enough to allow the foolish hope that Howard would forget about her and the issue of marriage to bloom in her heart.  The older she’d grown without a word from him on the subject the larger that hope had become even with bachelors circling her like vultures and Maria’s constant harping.

She’d even had tentative thoughts of managing to grow old enough beneath his nose that she would no longer be a marriageable prospect.

Baring that, at the very least, she’d hoped he would, somehow, accidentally choose someone less offensive.  Someone Toni might one day be able to build some semblance of a life with even if true happiness might be beyond her reach.

Justin Hammer is, and will never be, that person.

He’s shaded with the same color of cruelty that Howard wears as easily as his fine coats and expensive gloves.

Everything within her rebels at the very idea of marrying him.

“No,” the word slips out before Toni can bite it back, a visceral sort of gut reaction that beats its way out from behind her teeth.

“What?”  Howard’s question is soft, deadly.  The tips of his ears have already begun to turn red.  Toni has always had a particular sort of talent when it comes to enraging him.  Has done it with an effortless sort of ease every since she was small.

“I refuse,” Toni squares her shoulders and tips her chin up defiantly.  In for a bruise, in for a break as the saying goes.

“Don’t disrespect me, _Natasha_ ,” Howard bites out her first name as he slams his pipe and tumbler down onto the desk and surges to his feet.

“I won’t marry him.”  Toni tells him undeterred.  This, she knows, will end in pain for her, as it always does, but she cannot, will not, remain quiet.  She won’t let Howard barter her, _her future children_ , away without a fight.  “You can’t make me.”

Howard rounds the desk in two long strides and the crack of his palm against her face is as loud as a thunder clap in the silence of the study.

Toni, head turned to the side from the force of the blow, clenches her hands in the folds of her skirts and cuts her eyes up at him from beneath her lashes as a fresh surge of determination arcs through her.

She stopped letting Howard put her down without a fight when she was a child, long before MIT had hardened her even further.  She isn’t going to let him do it now just because they have an audience.

She straightens with a deliberate sort of slowness and raises a hand up to thumb the blood from the corner of her mouth.  She looks at the red smear on the pad of her thumb for a long moment and the raises it up to lick the blood from her finger.

Then, eyes locked on Howard’s furious face, she rears her head back and spits directly in his face.

For a split second there’s silence.

And then Howard roars, a wordless noise of rage, and draws his hand back to hit her again.

Toni, shoulders straight and mouth curled in a snarl, refuses to flinch from him.

Then, just before he strikes her again, a hand wraps around his wrist, stopping the blow before it can connect.

“Lord Stark,” Hammer’s eyes are wide in what looks like shock but his voice is as ingratiating and _slimy_ as always, “I don’t mean to overstep my bounds Sir, but perhaps you could leave her punishment to me?  If we’re to marry I should get used to teaching her a woman’s proper place, don’t you agree?”

Howard stares at him, red faced and breathing hard, before he jerks his arm from Hamer’s hold and reaches into his jacket to pull out a handkerchief.

“Fine,” Howard snarls as he wipes blood and spittle from his cheek.  “You try. I’ve been attempting to beat some proper respect into the little bitch since she was a child.  She’s your problem now.”

“Oh,” Hammer’s eyes glint cruelly, “I’m sure I can find a way to make the lesson ... _stick_.”

“You’ll not bed her till the wedding,” Howard tells Hammer sternly, as if Toni’s body is an object he can give or take permission to on a whim, “useless as she is the girl’s a Stark, I’ll not have my name shamed more than she already does.”

“Of course, My Lord,” Hammer nods agreeably.  “I’d never do you such a disservice. She’ll enter our marriage bed as pure as she is at this moment.”

“Good,” Howard huffs.  “I’ll leave her to you then.  Call the girl’s maid when you’re finished, she’ll clean her up.  Just be sure not to be late for the evening meal, I plan on announcing your engagement then.”

Toni, silent, ignores the throbbing in her face and watches as Howard strides from the room, door slamming shut behind him.

“It’s just us now, darling,” Hammer slides closer to her and it takes all of Toni’s self control not to step back and away from him.

“Soon it’ll be just you,” Toni rasps as she turns to leave, uninterested in dealing with Hammer at the moment either.  All she wants to do is find Rhodey, to have his warm, strong arms wrap around her in a hug, to shelter her in an embrace she knows will _never_ turn cruel.

All she wants is the warm weight of her boys in her arms, the familiar comfort of an iron hammer in her hand, the freedom of sea salt scented winds tugging at her hair.

“Not so fast,” Hammer chides as he reaches out and grabs her by the arm, jerking her to a sharp stop.

“ _Let me go_ ,” Toni demands sharply as she raises her other hand and slams it down on the crux of his elbow with all of the strength her time in the forge has gifted her with.

Hammer lets her go with a low yelp that sends satisfaction arching through Toni.

“You should be nicer to me, you little whore,” Hammer snarls as he rubs at his arm.  “I could’ve let him beat you bloody but I didn’t.”

“How chivalrous of you,” Toni sneers back.  Toni knows better than to think anything Hammer might do will ever be out of the goodness of his heart.  There’s a string of ruined young girls behind him that say otherwise.

“You’re going to be my _wife_ ,” Hammer tells her.  “I don’t like it when another man damages my property.”

“I will _never_ marry you,” Toni snaps back as her right hand slides down the side of her skirt and around to her lower back.

“Keep telling yourself that, Natasha,” Hammer taunts her even as he steps forward into her space again and reaches out to snag a loose curl dangling by her ear.  He wraps it around his finger tightly enough that it tugs at her scalp and then he lifts it up to his nose to take a blatant sniff.

Toni stands, blank faced and cold, determined not to wince, determined not to take a step forward to relieve the pressure.  Instead the fingers of her right hand curl around the familiar thin hilt settled against her lower back.

“Six months,” Hammer murmurs lowly, lips tilted in a cruel smile, “and you’re _mine_.  Then I’m going to make sure you’re too busy giving me many, _many_ heirs to worry about being so ... _willful_.”

Toni’s hand comes up then, the thin blade of her dagger flashing in the low light.  With a swift jerk the blade cuts through the taunt hair connecting the two of them.

Hammer, her cut curl still twined around his finger, stares at her wide eyed and jaw dropped.

“Keep it,” Toni sneers at him, hand loose around her blade just like she’d been taught, “it’s all of me you’ll ever have.”

Then, careful not to turn her back on him, Toni makes her way towards the door and out of the study.  She strides down the hall, head held high and dagger still in hand.

She makes it to the servant’s staircase before she has to stop and collect herself.

She hates the way her hands shake when she slides her dagger back into the sheathe against her lower back.

Hand pressed against the wall and head bowed Toni takes a moment to breathe where no one can see her.  She brings her free hand up to her mouth and bites down on the skin between her thumb and index finger until the pain chokes down the sob that threatens to crawl its way up and out of her throat.

She feels lost, feels young and _small_ in that way that she’s grown to despise.

Just then a bark of familiar laughter at the bottom of the stairs and just beyond the door that leads to the kitchen jolts Toni out of her daze.  All of her attention immediately focuses in on the sound as something within her calms, goes _smooth_.

She would know that laugh anywhere, would know it deaf and dumb to the entire world.

 _Rhodey_.

He’s obviously come to see her as is his habit in the mornings before he takes his place as a guard.

Just hearing him, knowing that her dearest friend is so close, gives Toni a surge of new strength.

She can’t, won’t, be _weak_ in the face of this new problem.

She refuses to allow Howard to get his way.  Refuses to give herself over to Hammer and his new brand of promised cruelties.

No, Toni thinks as her mind begins to _whirl_ , ideas and plans already beginning to form.  She won’t be getting married to Hammer.

Not now, not in six months, not _ever_.

Toni will see this engagement null and void or she will see Hammer and Howard both in _Hell_ where they belong.

No matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> http://rayshippouuchiha.tumblr.com/


End file.
